Netflix raises prices 60%!!!

PREVIOUSLY: Shocker! Netflix is raising its prices by as much as 60%. A whopping 80% of Netflix customers will be affected by the price hike, according to an LA Times story, which says:

The changes take effect immediately for new customers and in September for existing ones.

Basically, Netflix is separating it’s streaming and DVD-in-the-mail plans. Before, you could get 1 DVD at a time and unlimited streaming for $9.99 a month. Now, each part of that plan costs $7.99, adding up to $15.98 for both if you want to keep the same service you had previously. That is a 60% price increase. You can read more about the changes on the Netflix blog.

From a business standpoint, I can see how this makes

financial sense for Netflix, which years ago predicted it’s future was in streaming movies. Now that the mail and streaming plans are separate, Netflix can focus on its target customers and price plans more effectively. Plus, with the drastic price increase, for every 125 people who bump up to the $15.98 plan, Netflix can have 1,000 customers drop from the $9.99/mo plan to a $7.99/mo plan and still make the same amount of money.

I am a Netflix customer and I never got a notice that my bill would be increasing, though it could have gone to my husband’s email. Before the massive price increase, I was already conflicted about paying Netflix $10 a month for movies. Now it seems like a pretty crappy deal. We watch two DVDs a month and stream many more. Maybe it’s time to go to a streaming-only subscription?!

What do you think of the price hike? What will you do about your subscription?

Comments

Currently (just for the summer months) I am on the 4 DVDs at a time plus streaming plan. I had always planned to cut back to 2 DVDs at a time at the end of summer. I would love to go onto the streaming only plan, however, my streaming queue has something like 20 movies in it and my DVD queue has 120, so, as you can see, far more of the movies that I am interested in from Netflix are NOT offered through streaming.

I will say that under my particular plan, my increase is only going to be about 10%, so it would appear that the higher up you are on the DVDs out at a time plus streaming plan, the less extra Netflix is charging you.

I only got my email from Netflix regarding my price hike on Wednesday July 13.

I would like to find another DVDs by mail service like Netflix. Redbox doesn’t work well for me, as my location requires travel by bus that only runs on a limited basis and I can’t easily pop round to the store to return any films.

Pretty expensive way of solving their problem. Not sure what we will do. Like the closed captioning on the disks; they don’t have it on the Roku type streaming. And it doesn’t look like they will have either. So, who knows.

I don’t have any cable and all of my tv and movie watching is through netflix streaming, borrowing disks from friends, or watching shows online. I think streaming is the way things are moving, and with more customers moving away from physical dvds they will not have to have so much inventory and can focus on increasing the streaming content.

I’ll be reducing my plan and checking out more vids from redbox. The DVDs come out at the same time to Netflix and redbox but I won’t have to wait my turn in line for one to be sent! I’ve noticed that when I do get a DVD in the mail it takes me a week to watch it, then I don’t finish it and wind up sendin it back before I finish it anyway. Maybe I’ll look into what blockbuster is offering for mailing DVDs? This is their chance to steal Netflix customers !

I’m with everyone else on this… I will cancel my mail subscription and use redbox for those. The trouble I see ahead is that there will be even less availability of dvds on redbox and I am sure many will be doing the same. But honestly, in this economy for Netflix to institute such a drastic increase I think they are just shooting themselves in the foot. It will be interesting to see if they adjust after the dust settles

FYI, Blockbuster sucks. The shipping is very slow and most of the movies are long wait to unavailable. I only have blockbuster for the 28 days earlier movies and half the time it takes forever for me to get them. Almost not worth it. Netflix is still the best by far. I also don’t like streaming because there is no captions. I rely alot on them.

I just want to add that even though it’s not made clear in the email from Netflix, they have other plan options in addition to the separate streaming and DVD rental plans. Here is a list of all the different Netflix plans and pricing:

Unlimited Streaming $7.99/mo

Unlimited DVDs:
1 DVD out at a time $7.99/mo
2 DVDs $11.99/mo
3 DVDs $15.99/mo
and so on up to 8 DVDs for $43.99/mo

Unlimited Streaming + DVDs:
1 DVD out at a time $15.98/mo
2 DVDs $19.98/mo
3 DVDs $23.98/mo
and so on up to 8 DVDs for $51.98/mo

Limited Plans:
1 DVD out at a time, limit 2 rentals per month $4.99/mo
Starz Play Streaming (No DVDs) $6.99/mo

I opted to change my plan from unlimited streaming + 2 DVDs/mo to unlimited streaming + 1 DVD/mo. I watch a TON of streaming content from Netflix, so to me the price I will be paying is still a great deal and much cheaper than a cable or satellite subscription.

Since the “prices will start for charges on or after September 1, 2011” I will stay on my 2+streaming then downgrade before the hike. They have been threatening to do this for a while. Netflix should increase their streaming inventory, THEN the prices for different plans to make it fair (= affordable) for existing customers! I read about it on Yahoo news before they gave notice btw.

And just to be clear, the prices I listed above do reflect the price increase.

Also, if you are a Netflix customer and have not yet received notice of the price increase, I believe the notices were emailed to all existing Netflix customers on the same day. You should check your Junk/Spam mail folder, or if you used a different email address when signing up for Netflix, the email would have gone to that address instead.

I was a Netflix subscriber years ago and hated it. Most DVD’s I received by mail were damaged in some way and seemed to skip or freeze completely so I finally canceled my service. I had been thinking about subscribing again, as my son has the service and likes it. So I have been checking out the streaming content at his house over the last couple of months and frankly I haven’t been that impressed. Mostly older movies, nothing really that recent. It is much easier for me to go a couple miles down the road to 7-11 or Sheetz and rent from Blockbuster Express for $1 or Redbox somewhere, they both are very convenient for me and have lots of newer movies. Blockbuster Express has added probably 8 new kiosks within 5 miles from my house now so I have lots of choices. Netflix can go fly as far as I’m concerned. 60% price hike is just too much when there are too many other choices for people.

We had Blockbuster’s mail plan several years ago, and when they raised their prices and diminished the service (much like what Netflix is doing), we complained to the management, and they less than cared about our opinion. Like Netflix, I am sure that they spent a lot of money to come to their decision and they are prepared to lose customers, just like Blockbuster was. Unfortunately for Blockbuster, they were mostly Brick-n-mortar and it led to the massive store closings, in the case of Netflix, they don’t have such concerns. I am sure they will ultimately continue to grow and advance in the still relatively new and innovative entertainment field of streaming entertainment. I am shocked that it took this long for this type of entertainment. To think, Pay-per-view is actually want innovated this type of media viewing.

I absolutely adore Netflix. I’m with you, I only watch a few DVDs a month. I love streaming TV shows, though. They have seasons 1-9 of Intervention, and 1-7 of Family Guy. Two of my favorite shows! Love it.

Will be going to streaming only and getting DVDs at Redbox. If they don’t add more titles to streaming we may cancel altogether. Just have to see. Am not happy with the increase. With the economy the way it is, it’s not likely people are going to think favorably of a company hiking up prices so much. I read an article on Yahoo where a reporter investigated and found out that Netflix is making a profit with the way prices are now so they are not increasing to avoid losses. Seems kind of greedy, but business is that way, I guess :(. Kind of sad. Been on Netflix a while and I’ve been happy with it.

We are going back to Block Buster. I had been contemplating it for months because their shipping dvd’s is faster than my netflix ever was. They also include blue rays for no extra fee. Netflix has a 3.00 added charge for blue rays. Blockbuster also has game rentals and 5 in house exchanges. They have way better movies than Netflix. For my current situation we are leaving Netflix for Block Buster which I liked way better than Netflix. At the time Netflix drew me by the price, now it is so not worth it. I have streaming through xfinity which is included in my tv subscription. They have way more things on streaming than netflix.

well what do you think of the netflix price increase for the dvd and streaming service? honestly I do not really care too much because if you really think about it, the more you pay the more videos they can get us and in the end members will be happy once more. but maybe im wrong?